Took a tip from a guy at the Mauna Kea visitors center about moon photos and it backfired hard

Ngl this guy sounded super confident when he told me to use a higher ISO and shorter exposure for sharper moon shots. I tried it last Wednesday night and got a blurry overexposed mess that looked worse than my phone pics. He forgot to mention that the moon moves fast and higher ISO just adds noise if your scope isn't tracking. Anyone else get burned by some random visitor's advice out there?

2 comments

2 Comments

zara_miller9d ago

Got burned once by a guy at a star party who INSISTED I could shoot Saturn with my phone and a dobsonian. Spent 45 minutes balancing my phone on the eyepiece while the planet slid out of frame every 3 seconds. Now I just nod politely at advice from strangers and check YouTube tutorials before I even touch the settings.

hugog439d ago

I mean, "got burned" is kinda dramatic for a 45 minute phone-on-telescope experiment (we've all been there though). It's a phone camera on a dobsonian, not a life or death surgery. YouTube tutorials are fine, but honestly half the fun of this hobby is the trial and error stuff, you know? Like yeah you didn't get Saturn, but now you know to try a different adapter or just enjoy the view instead of fighting with your phone.